328 



THE OOLOGIST. 



I believe Michigan Short-ears leave us 

 for the south and that those we see in 

 the winter months are representatives 

 from the far North, perhaps from as 

 high as the 60th or even the 70th paral- 

 lel. 



The Short-ear is found to be quite 

 common at times, and a young obser- 

 ver who scares up live to ten of them 

 from the North where he is hunting 

 spring or autumn, is liable to enter 

 'abundant' in his notebook. However, 

 it may be a long time before he meets 

 another family or band. 



This bird seems to prefer low marshy 

 tracts where it is found in the coarse 

 thick grass. It finds its food in these 

 situations, another favorite resort is 

 wild fields on prairies. The members 

 of a family are often found in company 

 in the autumn and winter, and as 

 many as six or seven have been seen in 

 one baud. 



The nest is said to be built on the 

 ground and generally in the coarse 

 grass. The eggs, five to seven in num- 

 ber, ai'e white and globular and possess 

 the usual features of owl's eggs. Davie 

 says that the nest is sometimes placed 

 beside a log, at the foot of a bush, or in 

 a burrow made by a rabbit or muskrat. 



Barbed Owl, Syrniam nebulevsum. 

 (Forst.) This Is one of our best known 

 noctui'nal birds of prey. I think that 

 more Barred Owls are killed than of 

 any of the owls excepting the Great 

 Horned. 



This bird is well distributed and 1 

 have found it in many parts of the 

 state, including pine lands, oak woods 

 on the uplands and in low woods. Am 

 inclined to think that it prefers beech 

 and maple, and ash and basswood for- 

 ests. 



It is much confined to the woods, 

 rarely leaving the forest, unless occa- 

 sionally at night when on a foraging 

 expedition. It is eminently a night 

 flyer and though it can see to fly dur- 

 ing the day it rarely attempts diurnal 



trips, unless it is cloudy. I have re- 

 peatedly walked and ridden within 

 three or four rods of an owl which was 

 pprched iu a tree, before it would take 

 A\iug.^VVhen disturbed, it noiselessly 

 flaps its way to another perch, a few- 

 i-ods^away, from which it will only take 

 leave when pressed. It is fair to say 

 that this owl has the poorest sight dui'- 

 ing-lhe day of any of the birds of my 

 neighborhood, with perhaps one excep- 

 tion. I have often observed one in the 

 woods which Avould gaze constantly at 

 me with big, dark, staring eyes. At 

 these-times if an observer walks about 

 the tree on which iiebulosum is perched, 

 the J head -will apparently continue to 

 revolve, causing one to wonder why 

 the neck is not twisted off. In realitj', 

 the owl turns its head about, but so 

 quickly that the act can only be detect- 

 ed by a very quick and observant eye. 



Although so common, I have never 

 taken the eggs of this sp^ecies, and as 

 far as I can learn, the collectors 

 througJiout the state have not met with 

 flattering success. Many egg-cranks 

 have not found this owl nesting, and 

 very few indeed have secured more 

 than one set of eggs. Repeatedly, we 

 have patiently watched for the n. sting 

 arrangements to be completed but 

 something was sure to occur to scare 

 the birds away. 



Richard VVestredge has found two. 

 sets. One in a large elm on April 28, 

 the 1891 contained thi'ee yoxu]g birds. 

 One nest in a small grove found April 

 9, 1893 in a basswood (]uite GO feet up, 

 and evidently an old hawk's iuibitation, 

 held a single egg well advanced in in-- 

 cubation. 



K. R. Willhelm gives the notes: Apr. 

 21, 1887. One egg and one bird about 

 two days old, in cavity of dead beech, 

 Kalamazoo Co., Mich. Nest of dead 

 leaves and feathers; nearly level with 

 opening. April 15, 1891. Three eggs,, 

 advanced incubation. Cavity in lai'ge: 

 dead oak. 



